I love mince pies but sometimes I think they are a bit too much. There’s a lot of flavour in those tiny pastry cups . That being said I always feel the need to make them at Christmas because of tradition so this year I decided to pimp them to make them a treat I actually fully love. Now my favourite pastry based treat has to be the pecan pie! With its flaky case, maple sticky filling and rich pecans it has to be the mother of all deserts. So I thought, let’s hybrid the two and the results have been a thing of dreams. If you fancy making these at home, here is the recipe.

Makes 24 pecan mince pies

2 ready rolled pastry sheets

400g mincemeat

50g caster sugar

2 small eggs

150ml maple syrup

50g melted butter

1tsp vanilla

1 small pinch of salt

130g pecans

Icing sugar to dust

Pre heat the oven to 200C

First mix the sugar and eggs until combined

Add the maple, melted butter, vanilla, salt and pecans and mix

Mix in all the mince meat and combine well

Now make the cases, to do this cut rounds bigger than your cases and push into the individual cups (I went for deep fill)

Fill your cups 2/3 full with your pecan mincemeat. Its now up to you if you want to put a pastry lid on.

Bake for 15-20 min until you can see the pastry showing has gone golden.